UWP 001V
Expository Writing (Online)
1. Catalog Description
UWP 001Y. Expository Writing (4) Lecture/discussion—4 hours. Prerequisite: completion of Entry-Level Writing Requirement. Composition, the essay, paragraph structure, diction, and related topics. Frequent writing assignments. GE credit: Wrt (cannot be used to satisfy a college or university composition requirement and GE writing experience simultaneously). I, II, III. (I, II, III.)
UWP 1V is a fully online course. The time slot indicated on the Registrar's page is reserved for meeting in a real-time virtual environment; separate asynchronous online modules will make up the remained of the course activities.
2. Course Goals
- To develop the close reading skills necessary for analysis and interpretation of academic and scholarly writing
- To introduce students to the concepts of audience, purpose, persona, voice, authority, and tone as they relate to expository writing
- To introduce the forms and conventions of non-fiction prose
- To explore, through readings, how assumptions, key questions, and fundamental concepts lead to the construction of knowledge in different disciplines
- To explore the nature of evidence in academic and expository writing
- To review the requirements of standard written English and to help students master accepted grammar, syntax, and usage
- To develop students’ ability to recognize the stylistic aspects of expository texts, and to develop a clear, reasonably sophisticated, and appropriately varied prose style in their own writing
- To develop their awareness of language, including such concepts as diction, word choice, connotation/denotation, and figurative language
- To introduce students to effective ways to structure and organize texts
- To help students learn how to analyze individual arguments
- To provide students with instruction and practice in synthesizing multiple texts, formulating an original argument, and supporting it with appropriate evidence
3. Entry Level
Students must have fulfilled the Entry-Level Writing Requirement.
4. Topical Outline
- Close reading skills; analyzing different types of expository texts; reading for content and
style
- The nature of knowledge and evidence in the academy; textual and non-textual evidence
- The concepts of audience, purpose, and authority in academic writing
- Recognition, analysis, and practice of the rhetorical tasks of expository writing: narration,
description, summary, explanation, critique, synthesis, persuasion, and evaluation
- Comparison and contrast of texts
- Introduction to principles of argumentation
- Introduction to technological advancements in research and writing
- Problems of language and style
- Strategies for structure and organization
5. Criteria for Grading
a. The course will be graded by a letter grade.
b. Grades will be based on the students’ performance on in- and out-of-class writing assignments and a final exam. Class participation may be reflected in the final course grade. Students will write a minimum of 6000 words; the number of assignments and the weight of each assignment will vary according to the instructor in accordance with departmental guidelines. Some timed, in-class writing should be part of the formal requirement; an in-class final exam must be given.
Assignments and sequencing vary from instructor to instructor, but in general, assignments over the quarter will be increasingly complex and sophisticated. While assignments should be geared toward helping students understand how various types of evidence are used in different disciplines to support claims, most of the assignments will be based on readings. At least one significant assignment will require students to synthesize multiple sources and to develop an original argument.
Grading is based on equivalent activities and the same standards as UWP 1: Written Homework: 15% (reading responses and assignment memos) Midterm Examination: 15% (in-class and revised versions) Group Project: 20% (paper and in-class presentation) Final Portfolio: 50% (includes final version of portfolio letter and final versions of two papers).
6. Reading
Instructors will work from the standard UWP 1 course reader. Reading assignments are designed to develop students' reading skills and to provide material for writing assignments. The collection of readings includes explicit discussion of writing processes and context (i.e., a writing-about-writing approach to Writing In the Disciplines (WID). The standard UWP 1 reader draws heavily on the open source writing textbooks Writing Spaces (http://writingspaces.org/); the selected readings are made available to students for free as part of the online writing modules. The online writing modules cover five areas: (1) integrating data and evidence, (2) prose conventions and style, (3) collaborative writing, (4) writing for different audiences and purposes, and (5) reflection on writing processes and strategies. The web activities include threaded discussion forums; Google Docs and/or Etherpad for collaborative writing and peer review; guided database demos, searches, and source evaluation; reading content, writing skills, and grammar/usage/style quizes; and eportfolio creation and reflection.
7. Explanation of Potential Course Overlap
UWP 1Y does not overlap with any other course. It is distinguished from English 3 and from Comparative Literature 1, 2, 3, and 4 (all of which fulfill the lower division writing requirement) by its focus on expository writing and academic discourse rather than on literary texts.
8. Justification of Units
UWP 1Y is a four-unit course which fulfills the same requirements as UWP 1, but its mode of delivery is hybrid rather than the traditional classroom. Student workload is 2 hours of lecture, 2 hours of explicit, guided online web-based activities.